The present applicant proposes a screen device which performs smooth and stable opening/closing with reduced restrictions on installation when the screen device is used as a light blocking and light adjustment device such as a curtain a blind, a screen door, or a partition wall.
In the screen device disclosed in JP 3403652, a screen is attached to be freely developed between a pair of screen mounting frame portions which are disposed to face each other, and at least one of the screen mounting frame portions can slide. In addition, a pair of slide guide frame portions are disposed in the vicinity of both ends portions of the screen not on a side where the screen is attached to the screen mounting frame portion. These two slide guide frame portions have flexibility, with at least one end serving as a free end and capable of being stored in and drawn out of the slidable screen mounting frame portion. On the other hand, a portion of the slide guide frame portion drawn out of the screen mounting frame portion has linearity as the slidable screen mounting frame portion slides. With such a slide guide frame portion, restrictions on installation are removed, and smooth and stable opening/closing is realized.
The slide guide frame portion is formed by a plurality of rigid units in which adjacent two units are connected to each other. The rigid unit includes a pair of side wall portions disposed to face each other and a bridge portion linking both side wall portions. In the side wall portion, a protrusion protruding to the outside is disposed in one end portion in a length direction, and a through hole into which the protrusion can be inserted is formed in the other end portion. In addition, in the side wall portion, a small protrusion protruding toward the outside is disposed is adjacent to the protrusion and positioned on a side opposite to the through hole, and a long hole is formed which is adjacent to the through hole and formed in a substantially crescent shape on a side near the protrusion. The adjacent two rigid units are connected by inserting the protrusion into the through hole from inside of the side wall portion, and freely rotated by inserting the small protrusion into the long hole, and thus the slide guide frame portion is formed. Since the adjacent two rigid units are freely rotated, the slide guide frame portion has flexibility, the small protrusion abuts on one end in the length direction of the long hole, and rotation of the rigid unit is regulated, and thus linearity is secured.
The screen device in which the slide guide frame portion is disposed as described above releases restrictions on installation and realizes a smooth and stable opening/closing, so that the screen device can be used for general purposes. On the other hand, for example, there are requests to increase an opening area when the screen device is completely opened, and to improve ventilation when the screen device is completely closed in a case where the screen is formed by net or lace. These requests can be satisfied by reducing a width of the screen mounting frame portion (that is, a dimension in a width direction.
However, since the slidable screen mounting frame portion stores two slide guide frame portions therein, in order to reduce the width of the slidable screen mounting frame portion, the width of the slide guide frame portion is necessarily reduced. However, when the width of the slide guide frame portion is reduced, the slide guide frame portion formed of the present rigid units is degraded in strength for the connection between the rigid units. The dimension of the rigid unit in a height direction is necessarily reduced in order to realize the reduction of the width of the slide guide frame portion, but a long hole having the substantially crescent shape is formed in the side wall portion of the rigid unit, so that the strength of the side wall portion is insufficient. In addition, the long hole is necessarily made short for securing the strength of the side wall portion, but when the length of the long hole is made short, the size of the small protrusion becomes smaller, and thus it is not possible to secure a sufficient strength of the small protrusion.